2,030 films on the site were released in 1988, and 112 have enough critic or audience ratings to be ranked. My Neighbor Totoro tops the list, ahead of Hope and Glory and Au Revoir les Enfants. The biggest hit was Rain Man with $354.8M worldwide, and Rain Man won Best Picture at the 1989 Oscars.
My Neighbor Totoro is the best-rated film of 1988, with a rank value of 86/100 from critics and audiences; Hope and Glory is second with the same 86/100. Ranked by a blend of Metascore and IMDb/Letterboxd user ratings (Echo Scores start with 2017 releases).
#1 of 112 Best-rated film of 1988
1988 Fantasy Animation Family 1h 26m Japanese
87 Metascore $30.4M worldwide
Directed by Hayao Miyazaki
My Neighbor Totoro earned $30.4M worldwide; the year's biggest hit, Rain Man, earned $354.8M.
About My Neighbor TotoroHope and Glory and Au Revoir les Enfants follow My Neighbor Totoro. Drama is the most common genre in the top 25 (17 films). Ranked by a blend of Metascore and IMDb/Letterboxd user ratings (Echo Scores start with 2017 releases).
1988 · Drama, Comedy · 1h 53m
Dir. John Boorman No Echo Score: ranked 86/100 on critics & audiences
1988 · Drama, War · 1h 44m
Dir. Louis Malle No Echo Score: ranked 86/100 on critics & audiences
1988 · Drama, Comedy · 1h 30m
Dir. Pedro Almodóvar No Echo Score: ranked 84/100 on critics & audiences
1988 · Drama, Music · 1h 25m
Dir. Terence Davies No Echo Score: ranked 82/100 on critics & audiences
1988 · Drama, Thriller · 1h 56m
Dir. David Cronenberg No Echo Score: ranked 81/100 on critics & audiences
1988 · Mystery, Crime · 1h 43m
Dir. Errol Morris No Echo Score: ranked 80/100 on critics & audiences
1988 · Comedy, Crime · 1h 48m
Dir. Charles Crichton No Echo Score: ranked 80/100 on critics & audiences
1988 · Action, Thriller · 2h 11m
Dir. John McTiernan No Echo Score: ranked 79/100 on critics & audiences
1988 · Drama · 1h 43m
Dir. Gabriel Axel No Echo Score: ranked 79/100 on critics & audiences
1988 · Drama, Fantasy · 2h 8m
Dir. Wim Wenders No Echo Score: ranked 78/100 on critics & audiences
1988 · Action, Adventure · 2h 6m
Dir. Martin Brest No Echo Score: ranked 77/100 on critics & audiences
1988 · Biography, Drama · 2h 41m
No Echo Score: ranked 76/100 on critics & audiences
1988 · Mystery, Fantasy · 1h 44m
Dir. Robert Zemeckis No Echo Score: ranked 76/100 on critics & audiences
1988 · Action, Comedy · 1h 25m
Dir. David Zucker No Echo Score: ranked 76/100 on critics & audiences
1988 · Drama, Romance · 1h 59m
Dir. Stephen Frears No Echo Score: ranked 75/100 on critics & audiences
1988 · Biography, Drama · 1h 43m
Dir. Ramón Menéndez No Echo Score: ranked 75/100 on critics & audiences
1988 · Drama · 2h 44m
Dir. Martin Scorsese No Echo Score: ranked 74/100 on critics & audiences
1988 · Drama · 2h 13m
Dir. Barry Levinson No Echo Score: ranked 74/100 on critics & audiences
1988 · Drama, Fantasy · 1h 44m
Dir. Penny Marshall No Echo Score: ranked 74/100 on critics & audiences
1988 · Drama, Romance · 1h 56m
Dir. Sidney Lumet No Echo Score: ranked 74/100 on critics & audiences
1988 · Drama, Romance · 2h 51m
Dir. Philip Kaufman No Echo Score: ranked 74/100 on critics & audiences
1988 · Drama, Comedy · 1h 40m
Dir. David Mamet No Echo Score: ranked 73/100 on critics & audiences
1988 · Comedy, Romance · 1h 32m
No Echo Score: ranked 73/100 on critics & audiences
1988 · Drama, Comedy · 1h 35m
Dir. Percy Adlon No Echo Score: ranked 73/100 on critics & audiences
Rain Man earned $354.8M worldwide, ahead of Who Framed Roger Rabbit ($329.8M). The top 10 took $2.2B together; 273 films released in 1988 have a box office record here. Grosses that look like data errors are left out.
#1 $354.8M worldwide Rain Man $172.8M domestic · Drama #2 $329.8M worldwide Who Framed Roger Rabbit $156.5M domestic · Mystery 
#3 $288.8M worldwide Coming to America $128.2M domestic · Drama 
#4 $239.6M worldwide Crocodile Dundee II $109.3M domestic · Action 
#5 $216.6M worldwide Twins $111.9M domestic · Comedy 
#6 $189M worldwide Rambo III $53.7M domestic · Action 
#7 $171.5M worldwide Cocktail $78.2M domestic · Comedy #8 $151.9M worldwide Big $115.2M domestic · Drama #9 $143.7M worldwide Die Hard $85.9M domestic · Action 
#10 $123.9M worldwide Good Morning, Vietnam $123.9M domestic · Biography Who Framed Roger Rabbit leads with 6 wins from 17 nominations, then Stand and Deliver with 6 wins. Rain Man won Best Picture at the 1989 Oscars. In all, 47 films released in 1988 have award nominations on the site, with 43 wins between them.
The highest-ranked 1988 film of 12 genres, from Fantasy (My Neighbor Totoro) to Biography (Bird). Each film appears once, under its first genre that is still free.
My Neighbor Totoro 87 Metascore Hope and Glory 86 Metascore Au Revoir les Enfants 88 Metascore Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown 85 Metascore Distant Voices, Still Lives 86 Metascore Dead Ringers 86 Metascore The Thin Blue Line 79 Metascore A Fish Called Wanda 80 Metascore Die Hard 72 Metascore Wings of Desire 79 Metascore Midnight Run 78 Metascore Bird 78 Metascore September was the busiest month of 1988 with 178 releases; its best-rated film is Distant Voices, Still Lives. January shows 405 because films whose exact release day is unknown are stored on January 1.
53% of 1988's films with a known language are in English (1,059). Japanese comes next with 130 films, out of 57 languages in all.
A best-of page for each of 55 years, from 1900 to 2026 (so far). Before 1980 there is one page per decade, for its first year (1900, 1910, 1920, 1930, 1940, 1950, 1960, 1970); from 1980 every year has its own.
Quick answers about 1988's best-rated films, biggest hits and awards, from the lists above.
My Neighbor Totoro is the best-rated film of 1988 on What's After the Movie, with a rank value of 86/100 from critics and audiences. Hope and Glory is second and Au Revoir les Enfants third. Ranked by a blend of Metascore and IMDb/Letterboxd user ratings (Echo Scores start with 2017 releases).
About My Neighbor TotoroRain Man earned $354.8M worldwide, the most of any 1988 release on the site. Who Framed Roger Rabbit follows with $329.8M.
1988 box officeRain Man (1988) won Best Picture at the 1989 Academy Awards.
Rain ManWho Framed Roger Rabbit has the best award record of the 1988 releases on the site: 6 wins from 17 nominations.
1989 awards seasonThe site lists 2,030 films released in 1988. 112 of them are ranked, and September had the most releases with a known day (178).
Ranked by a blend of Metascore and IMDb/Letterboxd user ratings (Echo Scores start with 2017 releases). Only feature films count (60 minutes or longer, no concert recordings), and a film needs enough ratings, box office or award attention to be ranked.
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